Mark Green's Atheopaganism Blog

Living an Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science

Intuitive Understanding and “Divination”

I read Tarot cards. Not as much as I used to, but I still do it. I don’t think of it as “fortune telling”. I think of the Tarot as a magnificently complex set of symbols from which I randomly choose, creating therefrom a narrative which draws up my intuitive…

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Pleasure as a Sacred Experience

As I practice and have described it, the tenth Principle of Atheopaganism is responsible sensuality: the cultivation of pleasure for its own sake, so long as in doing so we are not harming others or the Earth. It’s May Day weekend, that sexy festival of fertility and…

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Shame, Trust, Safety and the Freedom to Make Magic

Shame. It impedes so much. It’s easy to succumb to the impulse to think that it’s something to be overcome, and that’s the end of it. Freedom, eh? And yet… Someone completely without shame is a sociopath. Shame is a guide. It can help us to understand how best to fit…

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Ancestors: A Conundrum

What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here. —Radiohead I have always acknowledged that my particular flavor of Atheopaganism springs from an unlikely confluence of experiences which will not resonate for some. Among them are such elements as having been raised with no religion—really none, not even…

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Magic Words

Words have power. In ritual—even solitary ritual—the spoken word can move, inform, reinforce, set intention and make more “real” what is not yet real. By speaking and hearing words, our minds are reshaped around their meanings, and we begin to believe, just a little bit more, that they are true.

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Just do it.

I hate that this empowering phrase has been coopted by a sweatshop-operating shoe company, but I’m not going to let them have it, either. This post is about getting your practice going, and keeping it going. Paganism–including Atheopaganism–is something you do. It isn’t just about having a particular worldview, although worldviews…

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